Katie was just 18 years old when we lost her after a short battle with meningococcal meningitis; she died on the 21st January 2012. Katie was a cherished daughter to Karen and Graham and a much loved sister to Ben. As a family we watched our Katie grow from a baby in our arms to a beautiful, inspirational young lady ready to make her own way in life. We have drawn huge comfort from the fond memories of enjoyment, fun and time we all spent together over her short lifetime. We became accustomed to a Katie that was considerate and caring, thoughtful and with a raw sense of humour, very determined which at times bordered on stubborn but very gifted in many different ways. From a very young age Katie had a huge affection for life and a tender love for animals great and small and as testament to that she took literally thousands of photo’s with her various cameras as she pursued a keen interest in photography but animal photography was her passion. We can always appreciate the fantastic pictures she has taken. Thank you Katie. We have lived alongside rabbits, gerbils, guinea pigs and her rats, the latter she was immensely proud of when they mated and delivered 10 babies. Close to Katie were our two dogs Mindii our Rhodesian Ridgeback and Ninja our Dachshund, whom she deeply adored. Regularly she would work them into an excited frenzy whilst training them to do all sorts of impressive tricks. Katie’s greatest passion was horses – she was obsessed with them. From Dandy, Shaley-May, Macaulay, Amber, Pancho and Gunner. All played an important part in Katie’s life. We were always on call if there was a crisis and there were many with Amber and Pancho in particular. The house and garage were full of all types of riding kit and equipment, she would sooner buy a numna than clothes for herself. Unfortunately in 2009 Katie was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes, at the tender age of 16 this knocked her for six, and took all her confidence and joyment of life away for a while. It was the horses, Pancho being the one at the time that kept her going. Literally for about 18 months she hardly went outside the door unless to the stables. Her friends from the yard helped her, and from the stables she has rented over the years she has made many great friendships. Because the diabetes affected her so badly, and we often wonder if the condition affected her susceptibility to the meningitis we donated the funeral proceeds to Diabetes Cymru. It was autumn 2011 when we encouraged her to get a job so that she could get her confidence and life back. This is when she walked into Claire’s accessories and met a wonderful group of friends who took her under their wing both at work and play!! She changed into a beautiful, confident, young lady who finally started to see what life could offer her even with diabetes!! She finally found the nightlife of Cardiff and enjoyed every single minute of it dancing until three/four o’clock in the morning she just couldn’t get enough. Katie’s second passion was photography and from her Nikon D90 we have wonderful photos, one which we recently enlarged and raised £200 for charity. We will cherish the photos forever, and we are so grateful now that this was a passion as she has left us with cherished memories through the photos. Katie took some amazing pictures of animals and her plan for the future was to set up her own photography business, with the aim of being a photographer at horsing events e.g. Badminton, Glanusk Horse Trials etc. She had even named her business Steed Photography and had her web page designed and ready to go. Whilst we as a family will never get over this tragic loss we can draw some comfort from fabulous memories of the joy, love and affection Katie brought into so many lives. Her smile and her laugh were infectious. Many of the cards we received commented to that effect. Katie will live on in some ways – her kidneys were donated and we were informed that two young males have benefited from transplants and were currently doing well. A poem read at the funeral:- If tears could build a stairway And thoughts a memory lane We'd walk right up to heaven And bring you home again No farewell words were spoken No time to say good-bye You were gone before we knew it And we wish we knew why Our hearts still ache in sadness And secret tears still flow What it meant to lose you No one can ever know But now we know you want us To mourn for you no more To remember all the happy times Which we will always store Since you’ll never be forgotten We pledge to you today A special place within our hearts Is where you’ll always stay… Katie you were amazing, we cannot explain the hole you have left in our lives, we will miss you forever, but we promise you will never be forgotten. 

Mum, Dad and Ben xxx